Bedtime woes: The Great Indian sleep deficit

On World Sleep Day, surveys show that most Indians are not getting adequate shuteye as they chase professional, personal goals

Like any debt, sleep debt too can catch up on you, making it difficult to make up for the deficit. And Indians are woefully short when it comes to a good night’s rest.

On World Sleep Day, a host of surveys, including one by businessline, show that a majority of Indians are sleeping an average of sixseven hours when they should be getting a good eighthour shuteye.

NIGHT OWLS

The Great Indian Sleep Scorecard, a survey of 10,000 respondents by Wakefit on their website, shows 58 per cent went to bed after 11 p.m. on a daily basis compared with 55 per cent in the previous year. Further, 88 per cent reported using their phones just before bedtime — a metric that had stood at around 62 per cent during 2019. A citywise analysis shows that people of Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata lead in staying up beyond the ideal bedtime. Work pressures seem to be causing late nights for 33 per cent in Chennai, Gurugram and Hyderabad, the highest among all other cities.

Per an analysis by Ultrahuman, a health tech company with a smart ring that tracks sleep patterns, India’s sleep index on the device is at 71 compared with the global average of 76. Indians also sleep 30 minutes less than the rest of the world and also tend to fall asleep 30 minutes later than others.

A survey by businessline on its website, with around 260 respondents, showed that 68 per cent get six/ eighthour sleep every night and onefifth (22 per cent) getting between four and six hours.

Similarly, community platform LocalCircles surveyed over 41,000 citizens across 309 districts and found that 61 per cent had got less than six hours of uninterrupted sleep at night in the last 12 months. This proportion has risen from 50 per cent in 2022.

A WAKE-UP CALL

The surveys are a wakeup call to improve sleep patterns, especially among Gen Z, 48 per cent of whom, according to the Wakefit Survey, went to bed post 11 p.m., and also report scrolling aimlessly on their phones late at night.

HN Mallick, President, Indian Society for Sleep Research, says sleep is the third pillar of good health along with nutrition and exercise, and a good sleep not only improves productivity and also reduces risk of various health disorders. “We look down upon people who sleep; we must respect sleep and not neglect it,” he says.